July Fourth Desserts

1 Giant Container of Low Fat Whipped Topping, thawed
1 Large Box of reduced calorie Vanilla Jell-O Instant Pudding
Reduced fat or Skim Milk - the amount as directed on the box necessary to prepare pudding
2 Tablespoons of Sliced Almonds
2 cups of assorted fruits: bananas/strawberries work well
2 dozen low fat vanilla wafers OR ginger snaps

How to Prepare This Holiday Dessert Recipe

To prepare, simply separate the reduced calorie whipped topping evenly into three bowls.  

Prepare the instant pudding as directed on the package using low fat milk. If you choose to use pudding that requires cooking, be sure to cool to room temperature as the heat will cause the whipped topping to collapse.

Pour one-half of the prepared pudding into a square serving dish; we're recommending a square dish because we're going to create a flag design - so you can use any serving dish that you wish.

In other words, you don't have to make a flag if you don't want to - and you can even omit all of the colorizing techniques.

The next step is to add a layer of fat reduced cookies. The next layer will contain the fresh fruit which has been cut into bite-sized pieces.

Add a layer of the whipped topping and then the remaining pudding. Add another layer of cookies.

Finally, you're going to add different colors of whipped topping on top of the cookies to the top to create a flag.

You'll create three stripes of red, white and blue using the following directions:

WHITE - simply leave topping white and spread onto 'set' pudding to form one stripe.

RED - Mix a drop or two of red food coloring into one of the separated bowls of reduced fat whipped topping.

Or - you can opt for the strawberry whipped topping at the market which has a reddish tint; they also offer chocolate topping these days.

So many choices make dieting much easier now than even a few years ago.

After adding the drop of color, carefully fold it into the topping so that it won't collapse. Then spread it onto the pudding and cookie mixture to form a red stripe next to the white stripe.

BLUE: Mix a drop of blue food coloring to the whipped topping as you did with the red. Spread the blue strip onto the pan to join it with the red and white.

You can also use instant powder - such as Koolaid packets to color the whipped topping and to add additional flavor. Be sure that all flavors will marry well with one another.

Finally, sprinkle with slivered almonds and colored sugar if desired. The dessert will require some time in the refrigerator before serving time.

Recipe Preparation Note: You can add and arrange the layers of reduced fat whipped topping, cookies, fruit and pudding in any order that you prefer and doing such will not impact the flavor of the recipe.